Sunday, 16 February 2014

Warhammer Dwarfs: 8th Edition Review

I've
never bothered to really review an army book before, but I thought I
might do so here, since I've already been asked a few things about
it.

I
think it’s fair to say that this book has been eagerly anticipated
by most players. Dwarf players are sick of using the same book since
the end of 6th edition, and many of them (and their opponents) are
well and truly tired of the lack of variety in the list and the
extremely static play style that it basically demanded. However, I
was worried whether they would be able to tread the fine line of
maintaining the fundamental character of the race, and adding some
more playability to the list. Did they manage it?

Overall
changes

Dwarfs
as a whole have retained their Relentless special rule, allowing them
to ignore attempted march-blocking. However, they have gained a
number of new rules.

Resolute
basically means that Dwarfs are all +1 Strength on the charge. This
is obviously significant, and means bog-standard Dwarfs with hand
weapons are considerably more dangerous if they can somehow get the
jump on their longer-legged enemies.

Shieldwall
is the flip-side of Resolute, and means that Dwarfs with shields who
are being charged get +1 to their Parry saves. Again, this is good
news for your regular Dwarf Warrior, but between this and Resolute,
players might actually consider giving their Longbeards shields
instead of just piling on the great weapons.

Dwarf-Crafted
basically means that missile troops in the army don’t suffer a
penalty to hit when performing a Stand and Shoot charge reaction.

Finally
there is Ancestral Grudge - a slightly silly rule that continues GW's
recent insistence upon adding randomness to the game. It’s a D3
roll at the start of the game, with results that can have your
general hating the enemy general, or all your characters hating all
of theirs, or even your entire army hating their entire army. So no
biggy, right? Hardly any potential impact there… Oh, and Dwarfs all
now hate Skaven as well as Orcs and Goblins by default. Their
grumpiness is ever-growing.

Tweaks
galore

There
are army-wide special rules that impact just about everything, but
nearly every unit has been tweaked in some way or another. Here is a
brief run-down.

Lords
are much the same, although Shieldbearers (somewhat ridiculously)
grant an additional 2 Wounds as well as the save bonus. Thanes are
now Leadership 10, so make viable generals if all you’re looking
for is the leadership bubble.

Runesmiths
now channel like wizards, although the Anvil of Doom grants an
automatic dice in both players’ turns. Runesmiths and Runelords
give the unit they are in the Armour Piercing special rule, which is
quite handy. The Anvil itself now casts innate bound spells, with the
ability to 1) make all friendly units within 24” Immune to
Psychology for a full turn, 2) grant a single target anywhere on the
field +1 armour save for a turn, or 3) hit an enemy unit within 24”
for 2D6 Strength 4 hits. This is all cute, but nowhere near as potent
as it used to be.

Core
troops didn’t change all that much. The missile troops come with
heavy armour, so if you buy them shields they could take some serious
effort to shift in combat. Longbeards are now just a regular choice,
rather than requiring you to field Warriors to offset them.

The
elite units have been slightly better differentiated, with
Ironbreakers being Ld 10 and always Parrying on a 5+. Hammerers now
have 2 Attacks, and every model in the unit can accept challenges
when the general is in the unit.

Slayers
no longer actually increase their Strength against tough opponents,
although they will always wound on at least a 4+ (their armour
penetration just never changes). They have gained the Deathblow rule,
allowing dying Slayers to take a single swing at something in contact
(which could see them attack twice in a turn). This (combined with
the potential lack of punch against armour) should ensure the Slayer
Axes are used as great weapons on a regular basis. After all,
charging Slayers using great weapons will be Strength 6, regardless
of whether they’re dying before they get to attack. Dragon Slayers
do D3 wounds against Monsters, and Daemon Slayers also force enemies
to reroll ward saves. They certainly have a lot more in their kit
than they did in the previous book.

Gyrocopters
are now a Special choice, and you can field up to 6 of them in a
normal-sized army. Given they now cost 80 points (instead of 140),
this is a whole lot more feasible than it might have been before.
They haven’t changed a whole lot, although they can now do bombing
runs for an artillery dice number of Strength 3 hits in turns when
they march (and thus cannot charge). Up to half of them can pay to
get Vanguard, but this is adding cost to a potential throw-away unit,
and would only be worth it if you want to use the steam gun in the
first turn. At the price they are, the Gyrocopters are basically just
a tougher, more versatile version of the High Elf Great Eagle -
destined to be thrown in to divert charges and generally cause
mischief in order to give the rest of the army an edge the following
turn.

Most
war machines are not drastically changed, although Flame Cannons can
now add up to 12” to their range, making them far more useful.
Organ Guns fire shots equal to 2 artillery dice, but must now roll to
hit. This will come as a relief to many, but of course it can make
use of a Master Engineer’s services, and all war machines can now
use Artillery Runes (one of which adds +1 to hit)...

Rangers
have fallen all the way from Core to Rare choice, and there is now no
such thing as a Longbeard Ranger. You can get 2 units of them, but
they will be fighting for Rare points with a couple of new arrivals.

New
additions

So
we were all expecting to see Steam Golems, Bear Cavalry and
over-sized Deathrollers arriving to give the Dwarfs their share in
the monstrous glory that has been 8th edition new units. Instead, we
find 2 new units in the army, neither of which are dramatic
departures from existing unit types.

Irondrakes! They look a little static here, I must say...

First
we have Irondrakes, who are the alternative build for the Ironbreaker
plastic kit. They’re basically Ironbreakers without shields, and
with nasty “Drakegun” weapons instead. They’re 18” range,
Flaming, Strength 5 weapons with Armour Piercing, Quick to Fire and
Dwarf-Crafted. This is on a model with elite stats, 4+ armour, a 6+
ward save and a 2+ ward against Flaming Attacks. So their weakness
is… ummm… fighting things that are far more than 18” away, I
guess. Bit of an all-round choice.

This is a Gyrobomber. Not to everyone's taste, apparently.

The
other new addition is the Gyrobomber. It’s a “heavy”
Gyrocopter, although its profile is no different. Whilst the normal
Gyrocopter has a token bombing run attack, the Gyrobomber packs a
slightly more nasty bomb. It lands with a Strength 3, Armour Piercing
large blast marker, and on a 4+ can then bounce and land again with a
small blast marker. These shots can scatter, but a couple of hits on
the right target could see some pretty serious devastation. The
bomber is 45 more points than the normal Gyrocopter, so it will
remain to be seen whether players feel it’s worth the extra
investment.

Runes

The
Dwarf characters didn't change all that much in the new book, but
really it’s the runes that make them what they are anyway. The
system for runes is not dramatically changed, however it has been
revamped a little. Very few runes can simply be repeated 2 or 3 times
for double or triple the normal effect. Nowadays they specify the
effect for a single copy of the rune, then what additional effects
you get for a second copy of the rune, and then again what will
happen if you add a third copy. With the varying stacked effects, the
costs of the second and third rune can shoot through the roof as
well.

This
might be a bit hard to understand from my description, so I’ll give
you an example. The Rune of Fire can be stamped on a weapon for 10
points, and grants the wielder Flaming Attacks. Simple enough. If you
stamp 2 Runes of Fire on the same weapon however, you need to pay 50
points. For that you get the Flaming Attacks, and you also get a
Strength 4 breath weapon. If you’re feeling rich, you can shell out
125 points for 3 Runes of Fire. This gives you the Flaming Attacks
and the breath weapon, and the breath weapon gets Multiple Wounds
(D3).

There
are many runes that have these varied stacked abilities, which should
give Dwarf players a fair bit to play with when trying to plan out
their characters. Obviously there are too many for me to go through
here, however it’s worth noting that Strollaz’ Rune is now just a
35 point banner rune that gives the unit Vanguard. A bonus 12”
advance is massive for units with a basic movement value of 3”, and
it could well be the key for players looking to play aggressively,
especially in conjunction with Rangers, Miners and Gyrocopters.

Conclusion

So
what do I think of the new Dwarf book overall? I am fairly happy with
it. I think they have done a surprisingly good job of maintaining the
existing character of the army, whilst adding some variety and tools
to trying some different approaches to making lists. Pretty much
everything feels like it can justify its inclusion in a list, and I
have not yet seen anything too glaring about unit prices, beyond what
seems to be the excessive cheapness of Gyrocopters.

A
lot of people love to hate Dwarfs, so I guess one of the question is:
does this new book address the normal complaints about the army? Well
one thing is for certain - Dwarf players will have far more trouble
shutting down enemy magic phases than they did in the past. An army
with an Anvil of Doom and a Master Rune of Balance could pretty much
laugh off 80% of enemy magic phases. This is no longer the case, and
Dwarf players will have to come to terms with the idea of people
casting spells at them.

Your
other normal complaint is the Dwarf gun line. There is no doubt that
the Dwarfs can still do this, however the real question will be
whether this will remain the dominant play style. There are tools
there that encourage allow a more aggressive approach from the Dwarf
player, when frankly there was not much on offer before. It was never
realistic to expect the new book to make Dwarf gun lines impossible,
so this new situation is probably about the best that could be hoped
for.

8 comments:

I thought the same. This army book sounds interresting and more powerful then the old codex. However it is not. The changes of the army special rules, weappon rules and the Avil of Doom are fatal. They made the whole dwarf army weak and unpowerful against every kind of opponent even against Skaven armies which were easily destroyed by any combination of dwarf armies.

I agree on the Gyrocopters. Not so sure about the Organ Gun. People would not have paid the points for something that is only going to average maybe 3 hits a turn. It sounds scary when piled with runes and a Master Engineer, but then it will cost plenty. It's not that dissimilar to an Empire Volley Gun with its ability to add an Engineer. I have more of an issue with it having a 30" range. I think 24" was more palatable. 30" is a commanding field of fire.

The double artillery dice for number of hits is balanced out by the need to roll to hit, the use of the standard mis-fire chart vs. the old dwarf specific one, and BS3. Basically without a Master Enginner your hitting on 5's at long-range and 4's at short-range plus any modifiers for cover.

6 Gyrocopters sounds like fun but I can't imagine many competitive builds taking that many.

Nice write up - I'm very happy with the new book. Yes some favourite runes have gone e.g. Ro resistance & brotherhood and the AoD is well rubbish but the overall balance is great. You have the ability to craft a combat focused army, a balanced one, or a very strong gun line but with this being less favourable to getting stuck straight in.